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Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs

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"Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs" by Rachel Jeffs is a shocking and disturbing true story that delves into the author's experiences growing up in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) cult led by her father, Warren Jeffs. Through a first-hand account, Rachel recounts the emotional trauma, abuse, and manipulation she endured within the cult, shedding light on the inner workings of the FLDS community and the oppressive control exerted by her father. The writing style is compelling and straightforward, offering an honest expose of extremism and abuse while also showcasing Rachel's personal belief, strength, perseverance, and faith in her journey to break free from the cult.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is straightforward and honest but occasionally monotonous, lacking emotional depth in the audiobook format, which results in a narrative that is both engaging and at times tedious.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot involves Rachel Jeffs' emotional and physical abuses within the FLDS cult led by her father Warren Jeffs, alongside her experience in a polygamous marriage and her ultimate struggle to escape for her and her children's freedom.

Setting:

The setting is primarily in secretive FLDS communities across several US states, marked by isolation from the outside world and constant relocation that disrupts family dynamics.

Pacing:

The pacing varies, with initial tension from childhood trauma and repetitive events, leading to an anticlimactic escape, blending moments of urgency with slower narratives.
Father was standing next to the Prophet’s casket at the front of the meeting house. The Prophet was Leroy Johnson, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and the only man ...

Notes:

Rachel Jeffs is the daughter of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the FLDS church.
Warren Jeffs had over 70 wives and was known for marrying off underage girls, some as young as 12.
Rachel began experiencing sexual abuse from her father when she was just 8 years old.
Rachel was forced into a polygamous marriage at age 18 and eventually had five children.
She reports feeling shame and confusion due to her father's abusive behavior and the cult's teachings.
Warren Jeffs continued to exert control over his followers even while imprisoned, issuing bizarre edicts.
The FLDS church frequently moved families between various states as punishment for perceived sins.
When Rachel left the cult, it was described as anticlimactic, focusing more on her safety than her life after leaving.
Despite her traumatic experiences, Rachel still had a belief in God and showed forgiveness towards some in the church.
The book discusses the psychological manipulation and mind games used by Warren Jeffs to control his followers.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

The book contains high content warnings including emotional abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, and psychological manipulation.

From The Publisher:

In this searing memoir of survival in the spirit of Stolen Innocence, the daughter of Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed Prophet of the FLDS Church, takes you deep inside the secretive polygamist Mormon fundamentalist cult run by her family and how she escaped it.

Born into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Rachel Jeffs was raised in a strict patriarchal culture defined by subordinate sister wives and men they must obey. No one in this radical splinter sect of the Mormon Church was more powerful or terrifying than its leader Warren Jeffs-Rachel's father.

Living outside mainstream Mormonism and federal law, Jeffs arranged marriages between under-age girls and middle-aged and elderly members of his congregation. In 2006, he gained international notoriety when the FBI placed him on its Ten Most Wanted List. Though he is serving a life sentence for child sexual assault, Jeffs' iron grip on the church remains firm, and his edicts to his followers increasingly restrictive and bizarre.

In Breaking Free, Rachel blows the lid off this taciturn community made famous by Jon Krakauer's bestselling Under the Banner of Heaven to offer a harrowing look at her life with Warren Jeffs, and the years of physical and emotional abuse she suffered. Sexually assaulted, compelled into an arranged polygamous marriage, locked away in "houses of hiding" as punishment for perceived transgressions, and physically separated from her children, Rachel, Jeffs' first plural daughter by his second of more than fifty wives, eventually found the courage to leave the church in 2015. But Breaking Free is not only her story-Rachel's experiences illuminate those of her family and the countless others who remain trapped in the strange world she left behind.

A shocking and mesmerizing memoir of faith, abuse, courage, and freedom, Breaking Free is an expose of religious extremism and a beacon of hope for anyone trying to overcome personal obstacles.

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